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The Tampa Bay Rays have been one of the most uplifting stories of the 2008 baseball season. Fans all around the country have been rooting for them because of their Cinderella Status. They have a likable coach, hard working young players, and one of the lowest payrolls in Baseball. The Rays have captured Baseball fans everywhere by completing the least likely turnaround since Pedro Cerrano told Jobu to F-off, and hit a two run jack against the Yankees.

Everybody, everywhere seems to love the Rays; except apparently people from Tampa Bay. Tampa fans suck. Sure, they are all showing up now for the first two games of the ALDS, but Red Sox fans will remember a less then sold out stadium for a mid September first-place showdown in which there were still more Sox fans than Rays. I heard an e-mailer on a national radio show say that the reason people don’t go to games is that the stadium is in St. Petersburg and it’s 30 whole minutes away. Boston and New York fans could be two miles from their local stadium and it could still be more timely to take a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Florida is a festering cesspool of humidity, bad buffets, and lousy baseball fans. Too many people in Florida are trying to find their “going out teeth” to worry about a baseball team that’s in first place. The Tampa Fans don’t deserve that team. The Rays should be proud of what they’ve done, but ashamed of their fan base. Maybe if they advertise during re-runs of Matlock and Murder She Wrote, and put in a buffet with lunch specials starting at 9:00 am, people will start showing up. Wake up Tampa and support your local squad, and then maybe, people in Boston will stop calling Tropicana Field, Fenway Park South.